An application profile on the first microwave configuration to combine T1 voice, broadcast quality video and 10 Mbps data (token bus). The project, designed by Microwave Bypass Systems, led to the development of the first protocol independent 802.3 Ethernet interface, even as Ethernet specifications were still in flux. Read the report (PDF)

SEPTEMBER 1986 |Communications Week"An Unlikely Couple Form Company to Sell Microwave Ethernet Link"

"Microwave Bypass Systems is taking on an increasingly popular technology and adapting it to link disparate local area networks. They've developed an Etherwave Transceiver designed to connect LANs up to 15 miles apart and support transmission at the full 10-megabit-per-second standard Ethernet speed...." Read the article (PDF)

The first wireless Ethernet connections were made in 1987. Ethernet was then in its awkward infancy, topping out at (a theoretical) 10 megabits, and struggling for market share against a more stable Token Ring. LANs that were connected at all, were handled by the phone company at T1 or fractional rates.

What we call a "wireless WAN" today, was initially referred to by the more clumsy name, "wireless LAN extension". The first such installation (1986) transmitted 10 megabit per second token bus data between Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts, a distance of some thirteen miles. The solution, introduced by David Theodore (and reported in "DataPro Research"), lead to strong interest in an Ethernet specific interface. The opportunity was compelling, yet not for the leading radio (microwave) manufacturers, and so finally David took the entrepreneur's all or nothing gamble.

Nearly a year later, on April 17, 1987, Theodore demonstrated his Ethernet interface (Etherwave Transceiver) in a two-mile link across Boston's Charles River. The hardware consisted of a point-to-point microwave radio (23GHz, analog), built for broadband video, but modified for Theodore's Etherwave. The Etherwave converted the radio's baseband signal to deliver (full-speed) 10 megabit 802.3 Ethernet to an AUI port on a "MAC level" bridge or IP router. Generally, that would have been Digital Equipment Corp.'s LAN-Bridge 100 or a cisco Systems router.

The demo, hosted by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Cardiac Computer Center of Harvard University, linked the hospital's Boston campus to a data center in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The successful event was extended a second day for visitors from Network World (editor, Laura DiDio) and Boston University.

Enjoying a substantial technical lead, Theodore's firm (Microwave Bypass Systems, Inc.) went on to other innovations, including: the first full-duplex wireless transceiver and bridge, the first all wireless school district (earning Smithsonian recognition), and the first wireless backbone for a regional Internet (the New England Academic and Research Network).

In 1991, Microwave Bypass was designated as one of "LAN Times" top contenders for the '90s, and the Aberdeen Group reported in 1995, that Theodore's company (renowned for customer support) had captured over 75% of the enterprise market for wireless WANs.

Today, Meridian Microwave is heir to this legacy of innovation and experience, lending pacesetting product technology for the most creative and cost-effective wireless WAN designs. Mr. Theodore actively manages Meridian's business and is available for special projects in the Northeast U.S.